


The Proposal

by thatwriterlady



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Based on a video I saw on FB, Castiel Loves Dean Winchester, Castiel proposes to Dean, Christmas, Dean Winchester Loves Castiel, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Everyone Is Alive, Family, Fluff, M/M, everyone is happy, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 01:01:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5607799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwriterlady/pseuds/thatwriterlady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas and Dean have been together for years and Cas decides it's time to pop the question.  It'll be a Christmas Dean never forgets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> So I saw this video on FB and it moved me to tears. I just wanted something cute and fluffy, and so I created this. Happy New Year, here is the first fic for the year.

“You painted something for Dean again?” Meg asked as she leaned over the couch to see her friend taping the last corner of a Christmas present.

“You could say that.” Cas looked back at her, a sly grin on his lips. It piqued her interest and she came around to sit down.

“What does that mean? What are you up to?” She shoved him lightly and he laughed.

“I am asking Dean to marry me. This painting, it’s not really one at all. It just says ‘Will you marry me’ on it. I have this whole thing planned out.” He replied. Her jaw dropped in shock and then she started bouncing up and down excitedly.

“Oh my God! Clarence! This is amazing! And you can’t just leave it like this, you need to make him work to open it, that way when he finally does and he sees the words written there, it will make the actual proposal that much better.”

“What do you suggest then?” He asked. She slid off the couch and onto her knees next to him, eyeing the various rolls of wrapping paper laying around. 

“I have an idea…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So mom wants everyone at the house by three. We open presents at four and dinner is at six.” Sam was saying. Dean moved his phone from one ear to the next as he listened to his little brother ramble on.

“Yeah, I got it.” He said.

“Make sure Cas knows too. Don’t make the poor guy rush last minute.” Sam told him.

Dean knew his brother was right. Last Christmas he’d forgotten to tell Cas the plans until the day of, and that left the poor guy rushing to get dressed and make sure everything was ready to go before they headed over. It had not made for a happy boyfriend either, Cas had been a grump most of the day. It was a week until Christmas now and as soon as his boyfriend was back from visiting his friend Meg he planned to tell him.

“I know, and once he’s back I’ll tell him.” He promised.

“Good. He deserves that, he’s as much a Winchester as we are. You know that.”

Dean smiled at his brother’s words. It had been a bit awkward at first when six years earlier he’d met Cas and they’d started dating. His family had not been aware that he was bisexual, and he didn’t even come out to them until six months into their relationship, when he knew he was serious about Cas. So he’d broken the news first to Sam who had been shocked but extremely supportive, and then to his parents. To say they were surprised was an understatement. It took his dad a little longer to come around, but eventually he did. After getting over the fact that his son was in a relationship with another man, his biggest issue was the fact that Cas was an artist. He worried that Dean would be the one forced to support them both, but Dean had quickly assured his dad that Cas was not only a superb artist, but he was well on his way to being famous, and was quite well off when he met Dean. Once John started hearing Cas’ name being mentioned places and saw his artwork decorating the walls of businesses and homes all over, he relaxed. The icing had been when the President of the United States had actually sought out two of Cas’ pieces to hang in their wing of the White House. Six years they’d been together and he was still as in love with the man as he had been the moment he first realized that what he felt for him was more than just like. The moment he realized Cas was his entire world. He knew he would spend the rest of his life with the man, there was no question of it, but hearing his brother include Cas the way he did, it made him feel good. His family loved Cas, almost as much as he did.

They hung up and Dean returned to wrapping presents. He had a Barbie dream house for Sam and Jess’ daughter Skylar and a toy tool set for their son Connor, a necklace for his mother, and more that were already wrapped. 

And then there were the gifts for Cas. 

A new easel for his painting since the two he currently had were on their last leg as it was. New brushes and paints, new drop clothes and canvases, all of which cost him close to a thousand dollars. Cas was worth it. He’d bought his boyfriend a bunch of new shirts since most of his current ones were covered in paint, and tickets to the opera. Every year since they’d started dating he had gone all out on gifts for his boyfriend, more so than he had ever done for anyone he had ever dated. Cas was the light that flourished in the darkness that had been Dean’s life before they met. He’d been lonely, though he’d never have openly admitted that to anyone and his world had revolved around work, time spent with his family, and time spent in front of the TV as he watched his life slowly go down the drain. He’d been a mess after breaking up with Lisa, wallowing in his own self-pity and ready to spend his life alone when quite by accident he had met Cas. 

It had been a Tuesday evening at the grocery store of all places when the man with the piercing blue eyes and head full of messy, dark hair dropped a bottle of soda at his feet. It had exploded, drenching Dean’s pants and boots in cherry cola. One look at the guy who was nearly in tears as he apologized over and over was enough to chase away the anger he had initially felt. A few minutes spent cleaning up his clothes and helping the guy pick up everything else he’d dropped had quickly endeared him to Dean, and he’d gone out on a limb to ask the guy out, not even knowing which way the guy swung. Lucky for him, it turned out that he did like men, and he was very interested. One date turned into two, turned into ten, and before he knew it, he was in love with the guy. Now? He couldn’t imagine a life without Cas in it. 

He had just finished the last corner of the doll house when Cas came through the front door.

“Hey, baby. You managed to get Sky’s doll house wrapped by yourself?” Cas asked, surprised. His hands were full so he had to kick the door shut.

“Barely. This took two rolls of wrapping paper. Good thing she’s only six and doesn’t care about the wrapping paper.” Dean added a few more pieces of tape before being satisfied that no part of the actual box was visible. Cas deposited all of the gifts in his arms under their tree before dropping onto the couch next to where Dean sat on the floor. He took off his coat and scarf while watching as Dean wrapped the little toy tool set.

“He’s going to love that. He wants to be just like you when he grows up.” Cas ran his fingers through Dean’s hair, feeling his heart flutter when his boyfriend turned to smile at him. Dean was absolutely gorgeous.

“I’d be happy if he wanted to come work at the shop with me. Keeping it in the family, you know?”

Cas nodded. He knew Dean wanted kids. Hell, he wanted kids, but he also believed in marriage before starting a family. Dean didn’t but he honored Cas’ decision. Unfortunately Cas knew that in Dean’s mind, that meant they wouldn’t be having any children of their own. He intended to put an end to that train of thought on Christmas Day. Not only did he want to marry Dean, he wanted to get started on their own family. Little baby Winchesters running around was a dream of his that was gaining more and more momentum the older he got.

“Oh, hey, Sammy called. Mom wants us at the house by three on Christmas. We open gifts at four.” Dean told him.

“Thank you for giving me the heads up this year. I don’t have her gift wrapped yet.” Cas said.

“I got her a gift from us though.” Dean frowned and lifted up the small box with his mother’s necklace in it. The one Cas had picked out personally.

“No, I know that, sweetheart. I mean the painting I made for her. I made one for Jess too. I need to wrap them. They’re in the bedroom closet.”

Dean’s expression relaxed and he smiled. Cas loved to paint and give them away as gifts to the people he loved. Dean had been on the receiving end of some of the most beautiful pieces he had ever seen in his life, and they mostly hung on the walls of their bedroom where he could see them every night as he held Cas close. A few more hung down there in the living room, but there were a few hanging up at his auto shop too. Two in his office and three in the lobby. He loved Cas and loved his art. 

“They’ll love them, I’m sure.” 

Cas slid down onto the floor next to him. “Need help wrapping any more of these?” He asked. Dean handed over a small box. 

“These are season tickets for Sam. Wrap it real good so he has to fight to open it.” He replied, grinning.

“You’re evil.” Cas said, laughing. Dean’s grin grew wider.

“Yeah, but you love me anyway.”

Cas leaned in to kiss him softly. “Yeah, I do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the week Cas was a nervous wreck. He had called Mary, Dean’s mom ahead of time to inform her of his plan and she had screamed so loud in his ear he thought he might go deaf. She’d been hinting for years now at them both, hoping one or the other would take the plunge and pop the question. She immediately went into a spiel about grandchildren and Cas had chuckled at her enthusiasm. They had arranged for Dean to be sitting in the armchair next to the tree. The room would be jam packed full of family and friends as it was and it was the only spot that would afford Cas the room to kneel down and formally ask Dean to marry him. If Dean noticed how on edge he was all week, he didn’t mention it. He was busy himself with finishing up last minute repairs so his customers could go home to visit their families too and aside from helping Cas bring over all of the gifts a few days early, he was working late to get all of his work done. That left Cas at home alone, too nervous to paint. To settle his nerves he cleaned and cooked. Dean came home every night to a hot meal and floors so squeaky clean they could eat off them. They would eat together, then load the dishwasher before heading up to take a shower together. It was their routine and while many couples grew bored with doing the same thing every night, neither Cas nor Dean ever did. They both loved the familiarity, and they loved one another. Who cared what other people did? This was their life and they were happy.

When Christmas morning rolled around Cas was pretty sure he was going to throw up. Dean had taken one look at him when they had finally crawled out of bed around noon and nearly called off the trip to his parents’ house. Cas had forced himself to relax though, and he promised Dean he was alright. They’d had breakfast together, blueberry pancakes and bacon before opening the gifts they had bought one another. 

All except one. That gift was tucked under John and Mary Winchester’s tree.

Dean raved over the albums Cas got him, and he actually screamed when he saw the vintage record player. He insisted on playing a Temptations record on it and they spent an hour just dancing around the living room together, lost in the joy of one another’s company. When they finally got back to opening gifts Cas was excited to see the new easels and all of the new canvases. He was down to his last two, but Dean had gotten the really good ones, including a 60x80 for him to do what he wanted with. Cas thought a painting of Dean might be appropriate. When it came time to leave they dressed quickly and headed out to Dean’s Impala. Dean was looking forward to his mother’s apple pie. Cas was looking forward to seeing Dean’s face when he opened the last gift from him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mary was waiting at the door for them when they pulled up. The driveway was already packed so they parked across the street and made their way up to the door. She hugged each of them before ushering them in to the house.

“Everyone’s here already. Go say hello. Cas, honey, can you help me in the kitchen with some snacks?” Mary asked. He glanced nervously at Dean who was hanging up their coats.

“Sure, anything you need.” He told her before following her into the kitchen.

Dean walked into the living room which was indeed packed. The TV was on, blasting a football game that Sam, their dad John, Charlie’s wife Dorothy, and Charlie were watching. Jess and Cas’ brother Gabe were playing cards in the corner while the kids were playing with Legos in the middle of the floor. Skylar jumped to her feet and threw herself into her uncle’s arms the moment she spotted him. A second later he had Connor in his arms too.

“Hi Uncle Dean! I missed you!” The little girl cried as she wrapped her arms around his neck once he had picked her up. He kissed her cheek as he pulled Connor up into his arms too. He was glad they were still small and he could lift them with one arm. He kissed his nephew too, making the little boy giggle. 

“I missed you guys too. What are you building there?” He nodded towards their strangely shaped tower.

“We maked a castle!” Connor announced proudly. Dean thought the little boy might just be the cutest three year old in the world.

“Well, can I help?” Dean asked.

“Yes!” Both children cried excitedly.

Dean set them both down before stretching out on the floor with them to help add pieces to their clearly structurally unsound castle.

“Where’s Uncle Cas?” Skylar asked as she picked up a red Lego.

“In the kitchen with grandma. He’ll come give you hugs and kisses in a minute.” Dean told her. Cas and Mary walked in a minute later holding trays of snacks. The kids both jumped up to hug Cas and he squeezed them both tight.

The next hour was spent with people chatting while Cas and Dean helped the kids build a castle complete with a moat and windows. When Mary announced it was time to open gifts, both children whined.

“Hey, Uncle Cas and me, we got you guys some awesome stuff. Don’t you want to open your gifts?” Dean asked them.

“Yeah, but this castle is so cool.” Skylar pouted.

“”Why don’t you move it to the dining room table and you can work on it later.” John suggested.

“Good idea. I’ll take it.” Cas carefully picked the castle up while Dean and Skylar picked up all of the loose pieces. Connor had toddled off to his mother, telling her he had to use the bathroom. Once the castle and all of its pieces were on the dining room table they returned to the living room.

“Dean, go sit next to the tree. Cas, you sit on his lap. I want a picture of the two of you together.” Mary had her camera and an expectant look on her face. Dean knew better than to deny her, so he sat in the designated chair. Cas sat down carefully, swinging his legs up to drape over both of Dean’s before wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s neck. They smiled wide for the camera and Mary snapped several pictures. Cas unwound himself from Dean and slid down to sit on the floor between his legs as presents were handed out. 

Everyone loved the gifts Dean and Cas had bought them, and Mary cried when she saw what Cas had painted for her. It was an oil painting based off her favorite picture of Dean and Sam when they were little. She immediately hung it. Jess cried as well when she opened hers to see that it was one of her children playing in the yard of their home with a ball. Dean was excited to receive new tools from his dad and a new baking set from his mom. He couldn’t wait to go home and make a lasagna in the deep dish. Jess and Sam had bought a six night stay at a Vegas hotel for them and though Sam bitched at all the tape and his inability to unwrap the gift from Dean and Cas, he was delighted once he did finally get the paper off and open it. The kids of course loved their presents, though Skylar cried when her father wouldn’t take it out of the box right then so she could play with it. Charlie had Dorothy had gotten them tickets to the next comic con and Dean was excited, already launching into what costume he wanted to wear. Cas looked up at him with affection as he listened to his boyfriend talk excitedly about their plans. It had taken him a while to draw Dean out of the perpetual funk he had always seemed to be in when they first started dating but now? Now Dean was a joyful bundle of energy and excitement, and he loved that about him. Something so simple as dressing in robes and carrying around a fake sword could make him bounce up and down like he was five again. Cas hoped he never lost that sense of wonder. It was one of the most beautiful things about the man.

When it got down to the last present under the tree, Charlie fetched it, automatically handing it to Cas. Just from the wrapping everyone knew it was a painting and he would know who it was intended for. When he turned around and handed it to Dean, his boyfriend’s eyes widened.

“You painted something for me?” Dean was always so excited when Cas took the time to create something just for him. Cas moved out from between his legs, turning to watch as Dean began unwrapping it.

“What the…” Dean frowned. The already wrapped gift had more wrapping paper underneath. Cas snickered when Charlie did. Mary had been videotaping everyone opening their gifts and she now had her phone trained on her older son as he let out an annoyed whine after getting through the second layer of wrapping paper to find a third set.

“What the heck, Cas?” He laughed as he tore into the next set. Cas just grinned at him.

Three layers turned into four, turned into five. Cas was impressed that Dean had not yet lost his temper. Instead, he was laughing when he reached a sixth layer.

“Dude, I am so getting you back for this next year.” Dean couldn’t even keep a straight face through his threat. Cas laughed and nodded.

“I’m sure you will. You’re down to the last layer now.” Suddenly his nerves were back and he was almost shaking as Dean tore off the last piece. He pushed all of the paper off, letting it flutter to the floor as he turned the painting around to look at it.

“What is it?” Dorothy asked. Dean’s eyes studied the picture for a long moment.

“What does it say?” Mary prompted. Dean looked up at her briefly before looking at Cas.

“It says… “Will You Marry Me”. He turned the painting around so everyone could see the words. Jess and Charlie both squealed with delight but Dean was looking at Cas, blinking to stave off the tears that were threatening to spill as his boyfriend dropped to one knee in front of him. He took the painting and gently set it aside before pulling a box from his pocket.

“Holy…” Dean’s eyes snapped up to his mother instinctively. He knew she didn’t like swearing in the house, plus she was recording, and the kids were present. His hands were shaking as he covered his mouth and turned his attention back to Cas.

“So, I know it’s been a long time coming, but Dean, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. That day I met you in the store, I dropped the bottle of soda out of shock. I’d never seen anyone half as beautiful as you, and if nothing else, I knew I was going to go home and paint you. When you asked me out, I was on cloud nine. I knew I loved you before we’d even been together a month, and by the time you finally introduced me to your family, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. Now, I want us to start our lives as husbands. I want to marry you, Dean. Start a family of our own. I love you more than anything in this world and I always will. So, _will you marry me?_ ” Cas opened the box and held it out. Dean was shaking so bad as the tears began to spill. If anyone asked him later if he cried, he’d vehemently deny it, even with the video to prove it. He nodded and reached out for Cas, wanting-no, _needing_ to hold him in his arms.

“Yes, you big sap, I’ll marry you!” He grabbed Cas and hugged him tight. Cas hugged him right back.

“I love you so much, Cas. So fucking much.” He murmured in his ear. Cas kissed his cheek and sat back so he could take the ring from the box. The hand Dean held out was trembling badly and Cas had to hold it steady just to slip the ring on, but he managed it. The room erupted in applause and Dean pulled Cas back into another hug.

“You and me against the world, right?” Dean whispered in his ear.

“Always and forever, Dean. I’ll always be right by your side.” Cas replied.

**Author's Note:**

> I do hope you liked the story. Leave a comment and a kudos and let me know what you think!


End file.
